A Different Shade of Pain (1)

– Frey Starlight's Pov –

Laughter echoed through the living room,

wrapping around me like a warm embrace from the family I loved.

Surrounded on all sides,

I felt a deep happiness—

a kind of joy I thought had been stolen from me forever… finally returned after a long and bitter journey.

Yet for some reason,

beneath that happiness,

there was something else.

An emptiness.

A strange void that whispered something important was missing.

No matter how hard I tried,

I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

I couldn't even understand why I longed for my family this intensely ..

I saw them every day, didn't I?

So why did I miss them like this?

And why did my chest feel so… hollow?

Questions with no answers.

As I sank deeper into confusion,

my mother's gentle hand pulled me back.

She looked at me with soft, worried eyes.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?"